nd, the result being twelve killed and thirty-three
injured, while considerable material damage was admitted by British
papers.

Aerial duels and combats over the battle lines began to increase in
number to such an extent as to cause their omission from the official
bulletins. Only the most spectacular feats thereafter were considered
worthy of record. Among these was an attack by four German sea planes,
which set out from some part of the Belgian coast and raided the
English coast from Dover to Margate, killing nine and injuring
thirty-one persons. One of the planes was damaged by the defending
guns.

A few days later the British returned the visit with five sea planes,
accompanied by a cruiser and destroyers, with disastrous results. As
related in a former chapter at some length, only two of the machines
succeeded in escaping from the withering fire of the strong
antiaircraft defense guns.

Then followed the series of Zeppelin raids between March 31 and April
5, 1916, when practically the entire eastern and northeastern coast of
England was bombarded by the German air fleet. Even Scotland was
visited by some of the Zeppelins, and there is every reason to believe
that the main object of the raid was to discover the whereabouts of
the main British battleship fleet. However, the airships seem to have
returned southward before locating the fleet. The German admiralty
never gave up hope of locating the main base with certainty, for many
Zeppelin and submarine raids were made with no other object in view.
Had the ships succeeded, there is no doubt that all available
submarines would have been dispatched to the spot, ordered to lie in
wait, and then entice the fleet out by offering a couple of older
ships as a sacrifice. The plan did not work out to the satisfaction of
the German navy heads, but it still remains one of their pet hopes.

On April 3, 1916, a French dirigible appeared above Audun-le-Roman,
bombarding the railway station, while on the same day a German Aviatik
was winged at Souchez, crashing to the earth and killing the
occupants.

On April 4, 1916, a sensational aerial battle took place between more
than a score of Austrian and Italian machines above Ancona. Three
Austrian planes were reported shot down, while two of the Italians
seemed severely damaged.

The next day a German official resume of the aerial battles was issued
by the Germans, in which it was claimed that fourteen German machines
and fort